


Side Job: Reunion

by Shujinkakusama



Series: Side Job [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Drawbauchery's universe, Gen, Homeworld (Steven Universe), Original Character(s), Past Abuse, Past Sexual Assault, Pre-Canon, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 17:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11833455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: 100 years after they meet, Peridot 5xG reunites with the amethyst that rescued her. Original characters everywhere, dark themes, Drawbauchery's AU.





	Side Job: Reunion

It turned out “booked for a decade” was a very liberal estimate. The Crystal Arena was headed by a renowned war hero, had a spotless reputation, and had been opened some centuries prior with all three remaining Diamonds in attendance, which was unheard of for a Level Three Arena. That Yellow Diamond was a frequent visitor made it all the more absurdly luxurious for a stupid gladiatorial arena where the matches were fixed and nobody died.

 

Peridot couldn’t get tickets for nearly a century.

 

Her numerous jobs, transfers, and surprise restraining order-related relocations were emotionally draining. Peridot 5xG almost looked _forward_ to the Arena trip, just for a chance to unwind without looking constantly over her shoulder. The facet the Crystal Arena was located in was highly developed, and Peridot had actually done some work there fairly recently; there were outposts that needed tech upgrades within her skill set, and a few retired Era One Gems with enough creds to call in technicians of her caliber.

 

She’d had the sense to make certain that 2xS was actually competing, and was glad of it; the Arena Second, a brittle milky quartz had informed her a little too cheerily that 2xS was very popular, but hadn’t been around much lately. Peridot didn’t know that she wanted her rescuer to know she was in the stands, but the Arena Second had been very insistent about passing her designation along, and she seemed…

 

Unsurprised? When she gave her cut and facet along.

 

Peridot didn’t know that she liked that much.

 

There was no possible way for Zircon to come along on this trip, but Peridot could contend with that. She didn’t _need_ her lawyer with her when she was supposed to be having fun. It was a frivolous, embarrassing idea.

 

Peridot’s shuttle docked without incident. She was more accustomed to traveling like this now; public transport was strange and unusual. It was cramped, and Peridot didn’t like that other Gems could touch her.

 

But they didn’t.

 

Most Gems kept their hands to themselves, and the ones that didn’t seemed genuinely repentant. There were quartzes to contend with, but they weren’t like 8xA. Elbows in her face weren’t ideal, but they weren’t invasive. Growling usually worked.

 

The Crystal Arena was _big_. Peridot hadn’t been sure of what to expect, but there were guards at the entrance that checked her pass and directed her toward the stands, and she merrily ignored those directions. The stands were easy to find, but Ames wasn’t scheduled right away, and Peridot was resolutely disinterested in the Arena’s purpose.

 

She wandered, pulled up a map on one of her portable screens, and tried to guess at where, exactly, the contestants would be during preparations.

 

It wasn’t _totally_ surprising that she got well and truly lost in the process.

 

The more hallways she turned down, the worse things got. Every pillar looked the same under fluorescent lighting, and at least two stairways ago windows were a thing of the past. Doors were becoming a thing of the past, too, and as unease settled in her belly, Peridot considered her dwindling options. She didn’t have the authority to be down here, and knew it. She was fairly certain that her century long wait to see Ames again would be put off if she admitted to snooping around a Level Three Arena looking for a Gem she barely even knew.

 

Peridot scowled, absently chewing a finger without thinking on it. She hadn’t even gotten a good _look_ at Ames, and it had been a hundred years. Who was to say that she even _remembered_ her?

 

Did she _want_ to be remembered, hiding in the back of a malformed exit hole, crying over one of 8xA’s many trespasses against her? It wasn’t like it had been the first time, or the last. It wasn’t even the _worst_ , but she supposed that was mostly thanks to Ames.

 

“Hey!”

 

The chill that traveled up Peridot’s spine shouldn’t have been possible. She froze, bit down so hard on her finger that it sparked, and turned in time to see a quartz jogging toward her—shoulder-length white hair, standard uniform, a Gem that was mercifully set on the _opposite_ shoulder from 8xA’s, but definitely an Era Two quartz.

 

For a moment, panic seized the core of Peridot’s being. She couldn’t be sure of what she was seeing, but instinct warred within her, and as happened too often, the urge to raise her canon in self-defense came too late. She always hesitated now, always flinched away from self-preservation, and instead, she scrunched her eyes shut, prepared for the worst—

 

“Um… You okay?”

 

Peridot forced her eyes open and was met with strikingly soft features, wide, pale yellow eyes, and brows furrowed in concern that was impossible to miss. The technician jumped back, feeling color flood her cheeks.

 

If 2xO hadn’t been an oddly-hued amethyst with her Gem at her naval, Peridot would have sworn she was faced with her twin. Of course, a few extra inches of distance helped prove otherwise; it was the Arena Second, the milky quartz she’d spoken to on vid call when she was trying to book tickets, but the resemblance was uncanny.

 

“Don’t sneak up on me!” Peridot snapped, looking askance and painfully aware that she wasn’t in a position to be making demands. Still, it was hard to feel dread around this quartz, once the initial wave of fear had passed.

 

Milky regarded her cautiously, then shrugged shoulders that Peridot noted were too narrow for her caste; she almost reevaluated her guess about where and when she’d been made, before it dawned on her.

 

The Arena Second at the Crystal Arena was known to be _brittle._

 

Brittle and small and unfit for the frontlines. She remembered reading that, recalled how _odd_ it was that one of the top gladiatorial Arenas would employ someone who needed light armor to participate. It hadn’t been very apparent in the few vid calls where she had spoken to her, but it was impossible to miss when she only had to crane her neck half way to look her in the eye.

 

“I got lost,” Peridot grumbled, voice sour and fingers curled tightly. “I was looking for someone I know here.”

 

“Um…” Milky looked conflicted, if a little confused. She shook her head. “It’s Ames you’re looking for, right? You’re, uh, way, _way_ beyond anywhere a guest should be. Like… you need special clearance to be down here.”

 

“I didn’t pass any signs.”

 

It wasn’t a lie, technically. Peridot had been careful to turn before passing signs that didn’t interest her.

 

“Yeah… there’s no signs this far down,” Milky said, pursing her lips in a frown. “But I guess we also don’t have doors you’d have to access with a code, either.”

 

“I got _lost_ ,” Peridot said again, louder this time, and her voice squeaked, just a little. She hated how often that happened, how completely, utterly unintimidating everything about her was.

 

It wasn’t a good excuse, and they both knew it. But Milky’s frown gave way to a sympathetic smile, and she nodded toward the hallway she had come down. “I can escort you back,” she said, “Ames was really excited to hear you were coming. She thought you forgot.”

 

Peridot’s nose wrinkled in distaste. She didn’t much like the idea that Ames had told who-knew-who about her. “I wouldn’t forget,” she insisted, earning a nod from the quartz.

 

“Peridots have good memories, right? Since you do tech stuff?” Milky asked, and it seemed genuine enough. Peridot’s stiff nod didn’t seem to put her off in the least. “We don’t have a full time tech yet, but there’ve been a lot of applicants.”

 

“I’m a Kindergartener.”

 

“Ah,” Milky said, in what had to be the least authoritative tone Peridot had heard yet. No wonder she wasn’t a soldier. “I guess it wouldn’t be your style, then.”

 

They lapsed into silence for some time. Peridot knew, vaguely, that they were going back _up_ somewhere, but the route Milky took was different from the one she’d gone down, and there were definitely doors involved. A small, appropriately paranoid part of her wondered if this quartz was going to toss her out the back for snooping around, and the pragmatic part of her mind wondered next if she could demand a refund if that happened.

 

“ _Milky!!_ ”

 

Milky jumped to attention, looking briefly panicked, and Peridot wondered if she were about to be faced with another, bigger, more quartz-like soldier. Maybe the fabled Arena Head. That was exactly what she didn’t need; an oversized jasper yelling at her for breaking rules that easily could have been _not_ broken if the Arena weren’t a giant maze, or if the map had actually been of any reasonable use.

 

Instead, upon turning, she was faced with a _very_ angry pearl, and truth be told, Peridot couldn’t begin to guess what to do with that.

 

Copper Pearl had taken a few of her calls during her failed attempts to book tickets. She wore the same dipped collar that Milky did—a ruddy brown and black uniform that suited her color scheme far better than the Arena Second’s—and sported a short gauzy skirt with a split up the side that showed her Gem. Peridot didn’t know much about pearls, and had no reason to, but she knew the translucent skirt likely meant she was expensive. She wondered with cursory interest why a fancy pearl would be working in a place like this, and then, more appropriately, wondered if she should be afraid of the murderous look on her pretty face.

 

“Copper!” Milky squeaked, and somewhere deep down, Peridot felt a little better about the way her voice sometimes wavered, knowing that soldiers did the same, even if Milky was brittle and unfit for battle. “We were, uh… See, she got lost, so…”

 

“Lost?” Copper echoed, and she didn’t sound like she believed it for a second. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and Peridot wondered if she’d belonged to an agate. “Milky, how could you believe—it’s impossible to get ‘lost’ this far from the guest area without a map!”

 

Color flooded Peridot’s face, knowing she’d been caught. “I was looking for someone!” she snapped back defensively, crossing her arms. The weight of her limb enhancers was comforting, in a way. They were a good barrier. Not that she was afraid of a _pearl_.

 

“She’s the peridot who wanted to see Ames, remember?” Milky tried helpfully, spreading her hands placatingly. “She called a bunch of times—“

 

“Then she should be in her seat, in the stands, where she belongs,” Copper growled, “Not snooping behind the scenes where she can—and will—get hurt!”

 

From the looks of things, Milky either wasn’t the sort to win an argument against the Arena Pearl, or she might have secretly agreed with her. Peridot scowled at the very idea.

 

“I’m not dumb,” she snapped, “I know how to handle myself.”

 

The look Copper cast her way was absolutely scathing. Conversely, Milky looked sheepish. The latter suggested that they hurry along, back to the Arena proper, and Peridot would have argued if she didn’t think that Copper looked like the type of Gem to revoke her ticket and deny her a refund.

 

Milky ended up walking between them and generally tried to keep things cheerful, while Copper acted nothing like a Gem of her caste and everything like she owned the place. Peridot wondered without asking if they were aware that their personalities were completely backwards, but decided that she preferred a meek quartz she didn’t know over the prospect of an angry and possibly volatile one.

 

Returning to the main Arena, to halls that now had Gems wandering about before the first match, Peridot was increasingly uncomfortably aware of how _many_ quartzes were here.

 

She hadn’t thought of that.

 

Peridot crowded a little closer to Milky, looking around with a frantic air as they moved. The quartz peered down at her, raising an eyebrow. “Ames isn’t in the first match,” she said gently, “I could get you down to see her, if you want?”

 

“That’s not following protocol…” Copper grumbled under her breath, but she cast a sidelong glance at Peridot and heaved a sigh, waving a hand. “I’m not covering for you if Jasper gets upset. I need to start rolling out terrains.”

 

Milky looked ready to protest, but Copper was already moving away from her, marching with purpose in the opposite direction.

 

“Is she always like that?” Peridot asked, deliberately avoiding both Milky’s question and her gaze. “Seems abrasive for a _pearl_.”

 

Milky elected not to comment on the technician’s inappropriate tone, instead motioning for her to follow her down another hallway. She seemed to know an awful lot of visitors, and greeted them accordingly. Quartzes and spectators alike seemed to both know and like her—and Peridot supposed she could see why. She was warm and friendly, and perhaps more importantly, _harmless._

 

Which was exactly none of what a quartz should be, but then, Peridot didn’t really like quartzes.

 

And that begged the question of what she was doing here, in what had to be the second most quartz-filled place after an active Kindergarten. There were other castes too, but Peridot suspected that they had been able to afford tickets for better seating, and likely weren’t going to be caught ambling about in the lobby or hallways. Peridot felt the hair at the nape of her neck prickle and wondered if she were imagining things when her gaze darted toward the crowd, just in case, because she could never be too sure…

 

8xA would surely regret it if she’d stalked her out here today, Peridot thought, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see her assailant again. It had only been a few weeks since the last close call—mercifully cut short by her shuttle pulling away from the station before the amethyst could cut through the crowd, but not before making eye contact.

 

That was the worst of it; that 8xA knew she didn’t even _have_ to get her hands on her anymore. She still seemed to derive sick pleasure from it, but she could get the same reaction across a room. Peridot still had to file a complaint once she’d been discovered, and several supervisors complained. It was hard to find work, harder to _keep_ work, hard to maintain a good reputation. Peridot was tired, worn down, and 8xA seemed to have a limitless supply of both time and energy that she could devote to ruining her life.

 

Ames was something of a last resort, and Peridot knew it. Zircon had told her that her involvement at the Kindergarten was almost entirely luck; 2xS owed her a favor and had been in the area. As a Gem of White Diamond’s quadrant, she didn’t actually have the legal precedence to take on Peridot’s case, and Zircon wasn’t sure she was reliable, anyway.

 

But Ames had deterred 8xA, just for a little while. Peridot thought of how short she was on creds and wondered what she would have to offer in exchange for protection, but by now, there wasn’t much that was off the table.

 

“5xG? 5xG, right?” Milky’s voice was soft, but startled her so badly that she nearly jumped out of her enhancers. Peridot jolted, looked ready to run, and the Arena Second smiled disarmingly at her. “We’re at the showers. I can’t let you in there, but I can go get Ames. I wanted to let you know.”

 

“Oh.”

 

 _Thanks_ was probably the right thing to say, but Milky had keyed in a code and slipped through a sliding door and abandoned her in the deserted hallway before she thought of it. Without really thinking, Peridot took to pacing, and the cracked finger from earlier zapped her when she absently put it in her mouth. With a muttered curse, she rotated the digits and chewed at another one instead.

 

She heard the doors slide open with a mechanical hum while her back was turned and froze. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Milky jog off, functionally abandoning her, and she almost ran after her. This was a terrible idea, Ames had no reason to remember her, even less reason to help her, and oh _stars_ she hadn’t thought this through at all—

 

Peridot turned almost mechanically, voice caught in her throat, and was faced with exactly who she’d been looking for—only it was the first time she’d ever seen Ames from the front, in halfway decent lighting. The amethyst was heads taller than her at a slouch—and she was definitely slouching—and her long white hair was tied up in a messy knot at the back of her skull. Peridot thought it was safe to assume that it was wet from showering, and wrinkled her nose a little in distaste. It seemed foolish to go to the trouble of a wet shower before engaging in something physical like—whatever these matches entailed.

 

She tipped her head back, bound and determined not to back down, not when she was cornered. Wide blue eyes met hers—oddly bright, she noted; most amethysts had darker eyes—and Peridot didn’t know _what_ to say when Ames’ entire face broke out in a grin.

 

“Peridot 5xG! You finally came to see me,” she teased, with the sort of familiarity that Peridot normally detested. Somehow, instead, this time it pulled the tension from her shoulders. “Lucky me, I’m not set to lose today! That’d be an embarrassing reunion, huh? Wouldn’t be worth your ticket to see me lose.”

 

“You remember me,” Peridot said stiffly.

 

Ames nodded easily, leaning against the door in the most precarious possible manner; if someone opened it from the inside, she would tumble right in. “Shouldn’t I? I’m surprised you remember me; you’ve gotta run into way more amethysts than I do peridots.”

 

“You helped me,” Peridot said, wishing she’d rehearsed this better in her head instead of focusing on trying to download dated, blatantly incomplete maps that had only gotten her lost.

 

“Of course,” Ames’ smile dropped, just a fraction. Her brows creased in concern. “You needed it.”

 

“I need it again.”

 


End file.
